Month: October 2022

Halsey had two major announcements yesterday during her appearance on The Zach Sang Show. The first was that they were releasing a new orchestral version of “So Good,” which elevates the song’s emotional and heartfelt backstory — written about her partner Alev Aydin. It is available exclusively on Amazon Prime. Meanwhile, the original version of the song, which was released in June, featured a heavily pop-focused production by Max Martin.

“I love this reimagining of ‘So Good’ – the song’s production originally had an orchestral element and it generates this powerful emotional undercurrent,” Halsey shared in a statement via AltPress.

This version of “So Good,” in addition to the original and the previously-released “stripped” rendition, emphasizes the all-the-more special meaning. Before the first release, Halsey had documented tense discussions with their record label, who pushed for the pop version and TikTok content — over her original plans for the song to be slow and more delicate.

“Basically i have a song that i love that i wanna release ASAP but my record label won’t let me…ive been in this industry for 8 years and ive sold over 165 million records…i deserve better tbh,” Halsey wrote, according to NME.

Halsey’s second announcement was that they will be hosting a new radio show, Halsey: For The Record. Airing on Amp, it will feature both music and discussions from Halsey. The first episode premieres on October 17.

“We have been working on this for almost a year now! For The Record gives me a chance to connect in a truly personal way with the people who listen to my show, to share music that has shaped who I am, and to let the fans hear from some very special people in my life,” Halsey continued.

“So Good (Orchestral Version)” is out now on Amazon Music.

In response to the January 6 committee unanimously voting to subpoena Donald Trump, the former president fired off a rambling 14-page response on Friday that plays of all his greatest hits. Case in point, it opens with the all-caps proclamation, “THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION OF 2020 WAS RIGGED AND STOLEN!” before recycling almost every single claim that Trump has made since losing to Joe Biden. He also refers to the House committee as “hacks and thugs” while barreling through the lengthy screed that’s already being roasted on Twitter.

George Conway, whose wife Kellyanne Conway famously worked for the Trump administration, went right for the jugular by joking that Trump makes the Unabomber seem sane by comparison.

“The Unabomber’s manifesto had more coherence to it,” Conway tweeted.

Andrew Weissmann, a prosecutor for Robert Mueller’s special counsel investigation, took a more lawyerly approach to Trump’s 14-page rant, but not even he could resist insulting the former president. (Yes, that’s a chicken emoji at the end.)

“Just like during Special Counsel investigation: Trump’s refusing to actually say this under oath and subject to follow up questions,” Weissmann tweeted. “If he believes this, why not testify to it. What a ”

Despite Trump’s bombastic written response, Maggie Haberman has reportedly heard from sources that Trump wants to testify in the front of the Jan. 6 committee, but only if he can do it “live.” While that would almost certainly be disastrous, at least one of Trump’s lawyers is actually looking into it. Trump already sounds like the Unabomber in writing. Now, imagine that live in front of cameras as he’s the center of attention. It speaks to the current quality of Trump’s legal team that everyone isn’t on board with making sure he doesn’t talk to the House committee on live television.

(Via Raw Story)

The NFL’s roughing the passer rule is under scrutiny this week due in part to a game-changing flag that occurred in Sunday’s game between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Atlanta Falcons. Tom Brady dropped back on a third down and got sacked by Grady Jarrett, which would have led to a punt and given Atlanta’s offense a chance to cap off a fourth quarter comeback.

Instead, the referees hit Jarrett with a roughing the passer penalty for what seemed like a pretty innocuous takedown of Brady. Tampa Bay would go on to kill the remainder of the clock and win the game, 21-16.

While that penalty got a ton of attention, some folks wondered why Brady was able to avoid a penalty for his little kick Jarrett as he was getting up. As it turns out, Brady is going to get fined for the incident, as the NFL announced on Friday afternoon that the former Super Bowl MVP will receive a fine of $11,139.

It will be interesting to see if Brady — whose career earnings top $300 million, will make $30 million this season, and will join Fox when his NFL career comes to an end on a contract worth a reported $375 million — can afford to pay this.

On Mad Men, Jon Hamm delivered one of the best performances any size screen has seen. As the womanizing, intelligent, melancholy, and mean Don Draper, Hamm had to carry a sprawling ensemble cast while playing a hot asshole with an enormous amount of bottled-up anger. Both Hamm’s undeniable good looks and inherent charm made the audience, at precisely the right moments, feel bad for Don. This made Don’s most emotional moments such as the dreaded Hershey’s pitch (men will literally tell an entire conference room that they grew up in a brothel instead of going to therapy). Although nominated every year, Hamm finally won an Emmy for his performance in 2015 for his role in the seventh and final season. It was long overdue, and so is his post-Mad Men career.

Since Mad Men ended in 2015, Hamm has been around, appearing in supporting roles in films like Baby Driver and on television shows like Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. More recently, Hamm appeared in Top Gun: Maverick. He didn’t do much in the role, but we love to see it nonetheless. Essentially, Hamm has not quite become the star we want him to be. Perhaps this was by Hamm’s own design: playing Don Draper for nearly a decade does sound exhausting.

Beyond supporting roles across film and television, Hamm’s most consistent presence since Mad Men ended in 2015 has been as the voice of Mercedes-Benz commercials. I cannot complain, because Jon Hamm has the voice of a god (not that I would know, but I can guess). That was until earlier this year when Jon Hamm made his debut as the star of…. a series of Progressive commercials. In the ads, Hamm plays himself. In the Progressive Commercial Universe, Jon Hamm is in love with his old flame Flo from Progressive played by Stephanie Courtney, who coincidentally appeared in the first season of Mad Men as Marge, a switchboard operator at Sterling Cooper. Flo is more interested in selling Hamm insurance than pursuing anything romantic, a concept that is impossible to imagine.

Even in the mostly bleak Mad Men, which had its share of comedic moments, Hamm indicated he is not only an incredibly attractive and gifted dramatic actor, but he is also very funny in roles such as Drew Baird, a pediatrician with hot person privilege on 30 Rock. The role proved he is self-aware, sharp, down to clown, and willing to make jokes at his own expense.

In the comedy Confess, Fletch, which came out quietly in September, Hamm is at his most Hamm. And he’s finally the lead again. As Fletch, an investigative journalist who finds himself at the center of a murder investigation while visiting Boston, Hamm gets to combine Don Draper with his lighter, comedic side. Like Don, Fletch is intelligent but a smart ass, he’s unpredictable to the point that at times, you wonder if he did commit the crime. But he’s also goofy, charming, and physical in a performance that benefits everyone sharing a scene with him. At long last, Jon Hamm is in his hamming-it-up era.

Fletch is exactly the kind of role that Jon Hamm has been waiting for since he let Don Draper go, a blend of his ability to be kind of mean and simultaneously melt your heart. If the Progressive ads – which honestly let Hamm do the same – will help get another Confess, Fletch film made, please, let him do them in peace.

I’ll admit that I was skeptical about the House Party remake when I first heard about it last year. It’s been in the works for some time but it always seemed like one of those Hollywood versions of Dr. Dre’s Detox — rumored but never completed, forever stuck in development hell. However, it’s finally come to fruition; today, the first, red band trailer for the comedy remake dropped and I’m not afraid to admit that I’m willing to believe I was wrong. This thing looks hilarious.

For one thing, it comes up with one hell of a hook; the titular house where the promised shindig will take place belongs to none other than NBA star LeBron James. When the two house cleaners tasked with keeping the place up while Bron’s away on a meditation retreat decide to throw one hell of a hootenanny to raise funds to send one of their daughters to private school (this is becoming sort of a go-to plot device, but for now, it works), they have to somehow make all this happen without James finding out and having the party shut down.

While LeBron doesn’t show up in the trailer in person, he does appear as a hologram of himself designed to give him compliments and reaffirm his life choices — including that big one in 2010. Also, a plethora of rappers show up including GaTa, Kid Cudi, Lil Wayne, and Snoop Dogg, as well as (of course) Kid N’ Play, stars of the original House Party, promising that our heroes will have a hard time keeping things under wraps for very long. As an example of just how out-of-control this one’s about to get, toward the end of the trailer, the boys get a koala high. Yeah, this thing looks awesome. Check out the trailer above and catch the film on HBO Max on December 9.

Since the upper Paleolithic times, we’ve been painting pictures on walls with many advanced civilizations across the ancient world decorating sacred sites, cities, and tombs with murals meant to entertain, share information, and pass on history. But by the twentieth century, much of Western civilization had moved to the point where art was relegated to other mediums. This, of course, created a space for a subculture to bloom, with modern-day murals and street art alive and vibrant as ever thanks, in large part, to Latinx people making it possible.

No really, modern street art (which, of course, is driven by a number of cultural contributions) wouldn’t be where and what it is today without the Mexican Revolution. After Mexico won its independence from Spanish control, the newly formed Mexican government began efforts to educate its population on the country’s long and storied history by commissioning murals and other public works of art that detailed Mexico’s history, from the pre-colonial times, through Spanish occupation, recasting the peasants and workers as the lifeblood of the country.

Through the work of artists like José Clemente Orozco, David Alfaro Siqueiros, and Diego Rivera, (who would also go on to paint murals in the United States) Mexican Muralism was so grand, politically charged, and important, that it single-handedly brought murals back to the forefront of the Western art world, inspiring many countries to follow suit. The movement resonated for generations, eventually inspiring the Chicano art movement of the United States in the 1970s. That influence mixed with the graffiti movement of the late ‘70s and early ‘80s would come to define the landscape of street art in US cities across the country today.

So as Hispanic Heritage Month comes to a close, we’re shouting out five cities where you can see some of the finest modern Latinx art adorning walls, alleyways, and streets, serving as a reminder of the debt US street art owes to the Mexican muralist movement and Latinx artists all across the world.

Austin, Texas

Given Texas’ proximity and connection to Mexico, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that some of the best Latinx art can be found on the walls of Austin. A simple stroll through the city will no doubt bring you face to face with many different murals and street art by artists from all over the world (and Austin of course), but if you’re looking for Latinx art specifically, the Mexic Arte Museum’s El Mero Muro program will guarantee you’ll find something directly connected to Mexico on the museum’s exterior wall on 5th St. and Congress Avenue.

The El Mero Muro wall is constantly shifting with the new murals. Currently, a work known as “The Ofrenda,” by Alonso Estrada, Gus Estrada, and Jenn Contreras adorns the wall until the end of the month. The 42×14 foot mural depicts a family setting up a traditional ofrenda table for their beloved departed as part of Dia de Los Muertos.

Also on the wall is a painting by Amado Castillo III and Amado Castillo IV called “Lead To Live,” as well as “Dreaming Of Xochitlalpan,” painted by San Antonio-based Kat Cadena. All three murals are distinct from one another and show the diversity of styles you can expect to find all throughout Austin.

New York City, New York

New York City stands as one of the finest cities for street art in the United States, and with a large Cuban and Puerto Rican population, the city is home to many works of art painted by Latinx artists. One notable mural is East Harlem’s “Dos Alas Mural,” which celebrates anti-imperialist icons Don Pedro Albizu Campos and Che Guevara and was painted by members of Ricanstruction Netwerks and the Puerto Rico Collective.

The mural is meant to celebrate the bond between Puerto Rico and Cuba as well as New York City’s Hispanic population in East Harlem. The mural is not without its controversy, recently in 2019 it was vandalized with red paint due to its politically charged nature, but as we mentioned in the lead, modern mural work was born through political commentary. These works stir emotion, and they’re better for it. Luckily for visitors, the mural has since been restored.

Other areas of the city are also home to vibrant Latinx wall art, like Washington Heights’ “Latinx Diaspora: Stores From Upper Manhattan” painted on the Audubon Terrace. The work reflects the history of Latinx immigration to the neighborhood and is a celebration of the neighborhood’s past, present, and future.

Los Angeles, California

Established at a time when Southern California was still a part of Northern Mexico, Los Angeles’ roots are intertwined with Mexico. Add to that the fact that the city remains the largest concentration of Latinx and Hispanic peoples in all of the United States, the city has a strong and prominent Latin influence that is felt in every corner of the city from the Valley to Long Beach and beyond.

Downtown Los Angeles’ Olvera Street is still home to “América Tropical” which was painted by David Alfaro Siqueiros in the ‘30s. As I mentioned in the intro to this article, Siqueiros was one of Mexico’s most important muralists and spent some time in the city after his expulsion from Mexico for his radical political statements. The art piece, as was always the case with Siqueiros, was extremely political and depicted the oppressive nature of US imperialism via a crucified Indian on a double cross with an American eagle perched on top with a Mayan pyramid in the background.

It was a bold move to call out US oppression on American soil, and the piece was subsequently whitewashed before being rediscovered in the 1960s.

Today “América Tropical” can still be reviewed, though the mural has lost its vibrancy due to the whitewashing and subsequent sun damage. Luckily, the city remains a hot spot for Latinx art, with the highest concentration of mural work found in the Hispanic neighborhood of Boyle Heights, which is located just east of the LA river.

Boyle Heights is one of the few neighborhoods that hasn’t been completely gentrified, and still houses a strong Hispanic working-class community. Street art can be found in every corner of the small neighborhood, adorning tortillerias, auto shops, and storefronts. It’s literally everywhere! If you’re in LA and on the hunt for murals, you’re sure to find a lot in Boyle Heights, no guide necessary. After you check out the art, jump on the newly built Sixth Street Bridge and head into the Art’s District to find even more contemporary murals before hitting nearby Olvera Street to see the master’s work.

Miami, Florida

Like Los Angeles is to Mexican culture, Miami is intertwined with the culture of Cuba. The city is known for its bright and vibrant street art, particularly the Wynwood Walls, an outdoor urban museum where walls are covered in murals from local talent and world-renowned graffiti artists like Futura, Shepard Fairey, and Adam Vargas (aka Atomik). But if you’re looking for art that specifically speaks to the Latinx population living in Florida, look no further than 8th street, aka Calle Ocho.

The Cubaocho Art and Research Center features many murals celebrating Cuban culture on its exterior, and the neighborhood’s most famous mural, “Welcomes You To Little Havana,” has become a tourist destination since it was commissioned in 2012. That mural was painted by Vargas, whose art is all over the city and is best represented by his anatomical orange known as Obie.

Another major work along 8th Street is “Esquina de La Fama,” which was painted by Luis Manuel Cuadra Peralta and celebrates famous Cuban musicians.

San Francisco, California

California is a huge state, so it shouldn’t be entirely surprising that two cities in the state made this list. In truth, we could’ve included San Diego too but at that point you’re so close to Mexico, you might as well cross the border into Tijuana.

If you’re looking for the densest concentration of street art in San Francisco, head over to the trendy Mission District. It’s more gentrified than LA’s Boyle Heights, but the Mission is still home to a big Hispanic working-class population and much of the city is covered in street art. Alleyways glow with vibrant art, and many buildings feature large murals that can be seen from blocks away, many of which celebrate the cultures of Mexico and Central America.

A simple stroll through the Mission will give you your street art fill, but if you want to see something truly astounding, San Francisco’s Museum of Modern Art currently has a work by Diego Rivera on display, and unlike the Siqueiros piece in LA, this one has all of its original vibrancy. “Pan American Unity,” is 74 feet wide, 60,000 pounds, and depicts the solidarity between the modern (at the time) working class and the pre-colonial populations of the North and South American continent.

No shade to contemporary artists, but Rivera’s piece is truly a sight to behold and will help you understand just how vital and inspiring the Mexican Muralist movement was.

If you come away from this article with a greater appreciation for Latinx creators, and the art that makes these cities come alive, great, but don’t stop your search here. There are many other under-the-radar communities and art scenes that form the rich tapestry of street art across the world that are worth exploring and supporting if we want to keep them alive. Seek them out!

She-Hulk wrapped up its first season this week and, in the process, garnered a lot of attention for, first, recreating the opening credits of the ’70s The Incredible Hulk series … and then having a scene in which Tatiana Maslany’s Jennifer Walters (aka She-Hulk) breaking the fourth wall to complain to the writers about how terrible the finale was going. Then, ultimately, confronting “Kevin,” an AI that creates all Marvel content. We spoke to director Kat Coiro, who directed the finale (and the majority of the season’s episodes) about all of this, and of course Jennifer’s newfound love affair with Daredevil.

Anecdotally, people who I thought would be super into the show haven’t watched it and people who I thought would not like it just love it. It’s very weird…

I got a voice message the other day from a nine-year-old who watched Episode 8 and was, “Why did you leave me on a cliffhanger? What is going to happen next?” And to me that really spoke to the diversity of the audience of this show and exactly what you’re saying. My parents have never watched a Marvel movie in their life and they love this show. And so I really do think, we said at the beginning, we were like, the people who aren’t already Marvel fans, we hope to draw them in with this series and I think that it’s happening.

So you got a lot of attention yesterday with that finale. Recreating the classic The Incredible Hulk opening was really great.

It was pretty exhaustive re-watching of that original introduction and recreating it meticulously while also finding these little flourishes and flares that tied into our story. One of my favorite stories from that sequence is the guy who is the bodybuilder who’s playing our She-Hulk, who is painted green, who tips the table over. He said, “When I was a little boy, I always used to dream about being the Hulk.”

Yeah, Lou Ferrigno…

“But that’s not exactly how my dream was, but I manifested it somehow.” It was really fun and it was fun to be able to get into the cheesier elements of that era. It was great.

The Daredevil storyline is terrific. How did that come about? Do you have to get permission to use Daredevil?

That was always part of the show….

I mean, it makes sense. He, too, is a lawyer.

Exactly. I mean you can’t have a lawyer show and not have Matt Murdock show up. I think one thing that was so amazing was their chemistry. And when you have a romantic episode like that, it all kind of hinges on their chemistry in the moment they were together. I mean Tatiana has good chemistry with everyone. Let’s be honest.

She’s so good by the way. Like really. I can’t imagine anyone else pulling this off.

Me neither. I mean they’re so fun together. I feel like they’ve got to have a future moving forward.

So I feel like you took every complaint about Marvel and condensed it into this scene where she confronts the AI Kevin bot. Like you just read every negative review of every Marvel movie and just listed all the complaints and just let it all out. Was anyone squeamish about that?

Ironically, I was the most squeamish about it.

Oh, I bet.

I was like, Oh, are we going too far? And it was really Kevin Feige who was like, “No, no, it’s fine.” And he was so self-deprecating and so willing to poke fun at himself. Where he drew the line was when we asked him to do the Kevin voice and he was like, “No, there has to be a difference between me and the AI robot.” But I think it’s part of what makes them an amazing company and makes them so unique is that they are willing to listen to the fans and they are not precious. And so I was the one going, Oh, have we gone too far? And Kevin was always like, “No, no, it’s fine.”

It’s interesting, when you’re watching that final episode it’s like, “This plot doesn’t make any sense. Why are they doing all this?” Then breaking the fourth wall, having She-Hulk complain to the writers this doesn’t make any sense is really clever.

I mean, one of the most challenging aspects of the whole series was that we filmed that lodge finale scene really early on in the schedule.

Oh, really?

Because I filmed all six episodes together in a big block. And I remember being with Tatiana and Mark Ruffalo and Tim Roth and Jon Bass and Jamila and them kind of looking at me and being like, “What is going on?” And my answer was, “It doesn’t make sense. It’s not supposed to make sense. That’s the point. You got to trust me, guys.” And it was definitely a challenging moment because, once you watch the whole series, you get it but to start at the end was pretty tough.

Mark Ruffalo, I assume he’s a busy guy, so you probably have a limited time with him and have to do all his scenes. So yeah that makes sense you had to do that early on. I can’t imagine having to explain that scene to everyone.

It makes no sense in context, right? And that’s the point.

Anyway, I assume there’s more She-Hulk coming, right?

She-Hulk will reappear somewhere, but only K-E-V-I-N knows where.

No movie, though. She’s been told that.

Very firmly.

You can contact Mike Ryan directly on Twitter.

Ruben Östlund, the Swedish writer/director of Force Majeure and The Square, is back with another satire of sex and power. Triangle of Sadness hits theaters this week or next, depending on where you live, and this one is even in English, so you won’t have to scale that “one-inch tall barrier to amazing films,” as Parasite director Bong Joon-ho put it.

Firmly within Östlund’s established wheelhouse, Triangle Of Sadness is another wry send-up of the power dynamics of class, gender, and beauty; a story about a pair of models onboard a luxury yacht full of wealthy folks, and the ship’s crew who serve them. At its best, Triangle Of Sadness looks something like Below Decks meets Parasite, where the social mores of the yachting class are more deeply delved into than on Bravo, combining highbrow class comedy with universal puke and poop jokes (yes, there is sea sickness). Östlund’s scenes are always memorably shot and staged (which is probably what helped win him his second straight Palme D’or at Cannes — Force Majeure won a jury prize) but it’s also hard not to notice that his skewering stick often doesn’t seem all that sharp, especially compared to the aforementioned Bong Joon-ho.

In its opening scene, Triangle Of Sadness looks a lot like arthouse Zoolander (someone make this, please), following British model Carl (Harris Dickinson) to a shirtless casting call where an art director asks him if he can open his mouth a little, so that he “looks more available.” Then he asks whether Carl can relax the “triangle of sadness” in the bottom center of his forehead, and whispers to an assistant that Carl needs Botox. The implication is that Carl, despite looking to all the world like a nubile hunk in the prime of his twinkdom, is already on the downside of his already-precarious career as a male model.

The next scene sees a blow-up argument between Carl and his model girlfriend, Yaya (South African actress Charlbi Dean, who died in August), over who’s picking up the tab at the expensive restaurant. As they attempt to navigate the tricky power politics of who pays when the woman has the bigger salary and securer position, but still on some level expects the man to be “the man,” Östlund goes to increasingly laborious attempts to find innovative ways to shoot two people arguing.

Östlund being Östlund, he manages this beautifully, including a gloriously staged scene in which Carl shouts at Yaya through a sporadically opening and closing elevator door, like Mel Gibson by way of Ace Ventura. At a basic level, Östlund shoots scenes interestingly, which feels increasingly like a lost art in the age of rushed shooting schedules and blueprint-driven prestige TV. Triangle Of Sadness has conversations that feel like car chases.

Carl and Yaya’s curious niche is symbolizing wealth and power without necessarily having much themselves, and they soon end up on a luxury yacht trip where they’re sort of the scholarship kids, there on a free ride surrounded by passengers with real money. These include wild-haired Russian fertilizer magnate Dmitry (Zlatko Buric), who calls himself “the king of shit,” a British land mine manufacturer and his wife, and an awkward tech guy (Henrik Dorson) who’s so rich he offers to buy women Rolexes for taking a picture with him.

Meanwhile, lead steward Paula (the awesomely named Vicky Berlin), with her Susan Powter hair and attitude (Jesus, how old am I?) pumps up her employees to give exceptional service with the promise of “huge tips” — the proverbial scraps from the big boys’ tables. In the film’s best shot, the sounds of Paula’s pep rally echo through the floorboards down into the lower decks, where the Filipino crew dutifully keep the machinery running, presumably without the promise of tips. Östlund has a flair for this kind of compelling imagery, and for absurdism.

As great as Triangle Of Sadness always looks, Östlund has a frustrating tendency to go more broad when you expect him to get more pointed. The film is meant to explore the relationship between beauty and power, which it does, in a broad sense, but I’m also not entirely sure what to make of certain scenes. Like the stroke-addled passenger who can only communicate by shouting the phrase “in den wolken,” which apparently means “in the clouds” in German. Or when the yacht’s drunken captain, played by Woody Harrelson, and Dmitry the shit king, trade barbs insulting capitalism and socialism, respectively. “The Russian capitalist versus the American communist!” Dmitry bellows.

Yes… those are things. There are times when Östlund’s satire spigot just seems to spray wildly like this, with some scenes seeming to function more as white elephants, provocative ways to distract us rather further articulating his themes. In the opening act, there’s a heated, pointed argument about gender roles and power dynamics. Onboard the yacht, it’s class, socialism, and capitalism. And then in the final act, which I won’t spoil, the hierarchy gets flipped on its head and power and beauty collide, or maybe just collude, with a wonderful turn from Dolly De Leon.

They’re all interesting in a vacuum, but I struggle a little with how they fit together, and with the feeling that they all seem to end just when they’re getting good. The movie as a whole starts to feel a little vague. Like Östlund is doing “what if it was about this, now what if it was about that,” until ultimately it’s not that much about anything.

Triangle of Sadness is never boring, which is an achievement in and of itself, but the lack of follow-through leaves you wondering whether Östlund’s feints towards social issues came out of genuine curiosity or if they were just more clever tricks of imagery, beautiful distractions like Carl and Yaya’s ads, designed to be desirable in the moment and forgotten soon after.

‘Triangle Of Sadness’ is playing in select theaters. Vince Mancini is on Twitter. More reviews here.

For a brief moment it seemed like Elon Musk had a reasonable request for continuing to provide Starlink satellite internet terminals to Ukraine, so of course, he ruined it all by tweeting. According to a new report from CNN, SpaceX informed the Pentagon in September that it can no longer afford to provide Starlink access to the country that’s still warding off a Russian invasion. Instead, SpaceX would appreciate it if the defense department started footing the bill.

Documents obtained by CNN show that last month Musk’s SpaceX sent a letter to the Pentagon saying it can no longer continue to fund the Starlink service as it has. The letter also requested that the Pentagon take over funding for Ukraine’s government and military use of Starlink, which SpaceX claims would cost more than $120 million for the rest of the year and could cost close to $400 million for the next 12 months.

“We are not in a position to further donate terminals to Ukraine, or fund the existing terminals for an indefinite period of time,” SpaceX’s director of government sales wrote to the Pentagon in the September letter.

In Musk’s defense, it’s not unreasonable to expect the Pentagon to open its coffer to pay for the satellite tech. After the news broke, Musk made a good point that companies like Lockheed Martin or Boeing aren’t just giving away free weapons. While replying to tweets about shutting off Starlink access, Musk revealed that it’s costing SpaceX roughly $20 million a month.

However, it didn’t take long for the trolling to start as Musk started criticizing Democratic politicians and Robert Reich for not praising him for the generous donation:

And shortly after, Musk couldn’t help himself by joking that he’s pulling Starlink access because an Ukrainian ambassador told Musk to “f*ck off” after catching wind of his “peace plan” that was suspiciously deferential to Russia:

Granted, Musk’s request occurred in September before his “peace plan” tweet. However, the news of him threatening to shut off the service arrives after allegations that Musk has been in contact with Putin. The two have denied speaking to each other ahead of Musk tweeting out his plan that gives Putin exactly what he wants, but political scientist Ian Bremmer stands by his reporting that Putin coordinated with the SpaceX CEO. The same SpaceX CEO who’s no longer open to helping the Ukraine.

None of it looks great, and it doesn’t help that Musk is being a clown on Twitter about the situation.

(Via CNN)

Following the news of Silk Sonic withdrawing from the race and rapper beef about specific categorial nominations making headlines, the Grammys are a hot topic of discussion right now. Indeed, the 65th annual Grammy Awards are on the horizon, slated to take place on February 5, 2023, at Los Angeles’ Crypto.com Arena. However, fans might not know that the nomination eligibility for their favorite artists closes long before then. Here’s what to know about this year’s eligibility period and why you might’ve started seeing an increase in For-Your-Consideration promotional materials.

Eligibility to receive nominations in the 2023 Grammys includes all music released between October 1, 2021 and September 30, 2022 inclusive, per the Recording Academy website. All releases following this September will be included in the running for 2024, or the eventual 66th annual ceremony. In addition to having a release during this specific time period, those who wanted to be considered in the 2023 nominations had to submit their materials over the summer, between July 18 and August 31. So, if an artist did not submit during this window, they will not be included — even if their song was a smash hit.

Right now, members of the Recording Academy are in the first round of voting, which takes place from October 13 through October 23, according to Variety. Based on these results, the official nominations for all categories — including the coveted Album Of The Year — will be revealed on November 15.

Following the nominee reveals, there will be a second voting round from December 14 through January 4, 2023, to determine the official winners. The 65th annual Grammy Awards will air live on CBS and be available for streaming on Paramount+.

Until the official nominations drop, read Uproxx’s early prediction for the 2023 Grammys here.